Rumors have been swirling around that the Richmond University Medical Center is seeking a merger with another hospital system.<\/p>\n
RUMC is one of the two main independent hospital systems on Staten Island.<\/p>\n
The center provides healthcare to tens of thousands of people a year. The roughly 440-bed facility and Level 1 adult trauma center primarily serves Staten Island\u2019s North Shore, but the hospital needs help itself financially.<\/p>\n
NY1 has confirmed the hospital is looking for a partner in an exclusive interview with Dr. John C. Evanko, the new president of RUMC.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe long-term solution is really to find a partner that we could ally with to help support us and give us the resources so that way, we could become more of an integrated healthcare delivery system to provide for our community,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Evanko said the hospital is operating at a loss and has been for years. RUMC reported its revenue in 2024 as $461 million, but its expenses at $488 million.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you\u2019re a standalone, it\u2019s harder to negotiate competitive rates and reimbursement for the services you provide,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Evanko said recently passed Medicaid cuts make the business landscape harder, but said this year it\u2019s lowering its deficit, but is still looking for a partner.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe put out [an] RFP to all the major players in the city, but there\u2019s several that are talking to us. But I don\u2019t want to say this one\u2019s closer or that one\u2019s closer because it changes from day to day,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Evanko said conversations about a merger with a hospital are in progress and started more than a year and a half ago.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re making some changes here so we could be alone and take our time to make sure it\u2019s the right fit,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I would hope in the next couple years. We have a long-term partner that we could really ally with.\u201d<\/p>\n
Evanko said a merger would mean better and more efficient care for patients.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think NYU, Mount Sinai and our current affiliate and Northwell, are all potential contenders that are evaluating these potential merger opportunities with us,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019ve all been approached, and they\u2019re all working on this to see if it fits their portfolio of hospitals.\u201d<\/p>\n
Private or public hospitals, Evanko said, could make a great partner.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think serving the public that we do and the population that we do, you know, health and hospitals would be a perfect fit,\u201d he said. \u201cI think when you become a public hospital, it helps people [who] are either uninsured, underinsured to access those resources for the care that they need. So we improve the health of all Staten Islanders.\u201d<\/p>\n
Evanko said the timeline is open because maintaining the deficit is manageable until they find the right partner, so patients should not worry.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s concern, there\u2019s anxiety whenever a hospital or any business entity says we\u2019re going to merge, we\u2019re looking to merge. But I\u2019m not afraid. I think what we are going to do is focus on patient care. And anything we do is just going to make it better for everyone involved,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
RUMC has several partnerships, including clinical and academic affiliations with SUNY Downstate and Mount Sinai.<\/p>\n
Evanko said they are looking for a fully integrated financial partner.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rumors have been swirling around that the Richmond University Medical Center is seeking a merger with another hospital…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":315075,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[2476,2952,25,2025,3691,2953,9,24,12,63,134,136,135,27,200],"class_list":["post-315074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-staten-island","tag-app-community","tag-app-health","tag-app-top-stories","tag-community-news","tag-emma-barnett","tag-health","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-news","tag-nyc","tag-staten-island","tag-staten-island-headlines","tag-staten-island-news","tag-top-stories","tag-vod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=315074"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315074\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/315075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=315074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=315074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=315074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}